Celtics Al Horford, Avery Bradley, and Isaiah Thomas discuss the big 123-101 win over the Wizards, giving them a 3-2 series lead.
Despite left and right hip-pointers that relegated him to the stationary bike behind the Celtics bench in between scorching the Washington Wizards, Avery Bradley scored 29 points, pacing Boston to a 123-101 win over Washington.
Bradley scored 25 in the first half, making 4 of 5 three-pointers.
The Celtics lead the series 3-2 with a chance to close it out Friday in Washington, D.C.
Coming into game five, words like contentious, chippy, and dirty were used to describe the series, however this contest was relatively fracas-free.
Spurred by the raucous TD Garden crowd, the Celtics ran off 13 straight points to go up 13-4 before Wizards coach Scott Brooks called timeout to stop the bleeding. Bradley came out of the break with a three-pointer to make it 16-4 Celtics.
Isaiah Thomas found Amir Johnson for a dunk to run the score to 20-8 and Brooks was forced to call another timeout at the 4:47 mark.
The Celtics led after the first quarter 33-21, paced by Bradley's 14 points on 6 for 8 shooting.
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The Wizards' John Wall, who torched the Celtics in game 4, scored the first bucket of the game and that was all he could muster for the quarter.
The Celtics started the second quarter where they left off, as Jae Crowder's three-pointer from the corner put Boston up 41-23.
The Celtics could do no wrong as illustrated by Crowder scooping up a bad pass from Thomas and banking in a three-pointer to make it 48-26.
The Wizards went on a 7-0 run, but Al Horford's put-back had the Celtics up 50-33 and another Bradley three had Boston up 53-33.
Bradley continued to carve up the Wizards, making a contested layup while getting fouled by Wall, giving him 22 points.
Bradley punctuated the first half with a three-pointer, as the Celtics went into the locker room with a 67-51 lead.
The Wizards continued to stymie Thomas, who ended the first half with 5 points, shooting just 1 for 4 from the field. Thomas did manage to chalk up 6 assists and did a good job managing the potent Celtics offense.
Both teams traded baskets to open the half and Thomas hit a three-pointer to make it 73-55.
Al Horford, having a stellar all-around game, logged his fifth assist on a Bradley short basket to keep the Celtics on top 81-64.
Horford showed his scoring muscle, hitting a three-pointer to balloon the lead to 92-72. Horford had 19 points at the end of three quarters and the Celtics held a 93-76 lead.
It was the same script to open the fourth quarter, as the Celtics stretched their lead to 104-78 on Thomas' nifty drive through four Wizards.
Thomas ballooned the beating to 107-81 with a three-pointer with 8:53 to play in the game. Garbage time had come early to the Garden.
Game 6 is Friday night in Washington, D.C.
